Cisco paves path to IPv6

With its latest Next-gen IP architecture, Cisco is tuning in to the fact that government agencies (U.S. Department of Defense) international carriers (NTT) and, increasingly, cable MSOs (Comcast) are getting serious about deploying and using IPv6 outside of the lab and in the field.

Establishing an IPv6 address migration strategy is becoming more pressing. According to potaroo.net, a web site that tracks IPv4 address allocation by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the availability of IPv4 addresses will become exhausted sometime in 2011. Cisco said that its Carrier-Grade IPv6 solution can enable service providers to overcome the barrier of dealing with a shrinking pool of IPv4 addresses.    

To achieve this goal, Cisco is adding IPv6 capabilities to its family of routers and switches, including the CRS-1 Carrier Routing System for the core and then the Cisco Aggregation Services Routers for the network edge. Instead of a flash cut, the addition of IPv6 capabilities to its existing product line will help service providers migrate to an IPv6 network while maintaining their existing IPv6 address base. Cisco's IPv6 solution will offer everything from dual stack, IPv4-over-IPv6, and IPv6-over-IPv4 tunneling technologies that will work in conjunction with LSN capabilities to facilitate the migration to an all-IPv6 network.

For more:
- see the release here [1]

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